‘Some people believe that football is matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude, it is much, much more important than that.’
Bill Shankly

Monday, June 30, 2014

And a
real retirement – Giacinto Facchetti. Low key, almost unnoticed.
1977-78 season ended, Inter won the Italian Cup and Facchetti
retired. There was no fuss – but Facchetti was almost forgotten for
years. The news were about others, yet he was not only playing, but
on high level. His last match for Italy was in 1977 – months before
he exited the game. A forgotten legend.

Born in
1942, Facchetti debuted for Inter (Milano) in 1960, only 18-years old.
He played for no other club – one of the last 'old-fashioned' stars
loyal to his club. For Inter he appeared in 476 championship matches,
scoring 59 goals. His time was really the 1960s, when 'Grande Inter'
ruled the football world: 4 Italian titles ( 1962-63, 1964-65,
1965-66, 1970-71), 2 European Champions Cups (1963-64, 1964-65), 2
Intercontinental Cups (1964 and 1965). Two lost European Champions
Cup finals – 1966-67 and 1971-72. Impressive and successful to the
end – he quit after Inter won the Italian Cup in 1977-78. Facchetti
ended his illustrious club career as a winner. At 36, he was
obviously not the same players as in the 1960s – he played only 18
matches during his last season – but still finished with a trophy.

No
less impressive was his record with the Italian national team – he
debuted for Italy in 1963, at 21 years of age, and his last match was
almost coinciding with his retirement – in 1977. He played a total
of 94 matches for Italy – an all-time record at the time, bested by
very few in the following years (Zoff, Paolo Maldini, Cannavaro). He
scored only 3 goals, but captained Italy in 70 matches!

Facchetti
played at 3 World Cup finals (1966, 1970, 1974), ending with silver
medal in 1970, but his greatest moment with the national team was in
1968, when Italy won the European championship.

Impressive
statistics, but numbers don't tell the whole story – Facchetti was
hailed for years as a revolutionary player, one of those changing the
game and the roles. He is considered – especially in the 1960s –
the first modern full back: still a model in the 1970s, more desired
than achieved, but in the 1970s the heroes were those who followed in
Facchetti's steps – Krol and Breitner, for instance – the full
backs, who constantly participated in the attacks and scored goals.
Back in the early 1960s this was unheard of. There were occasional
forays on the wings, a rare goal scored by a defender, but most of
the time defenders did not cross the middle line and watched their
strikers from deep back. Facchetti changed that, although for the
most of the decade he was pretty much the only full back consistently
going into attacks. An unusual full back, though – Facchetti was
1.91 m and tall players were either centre-forwards or central
defenders. As a junior Fachetti was exactly centre-forward - it was
the great Helenio Herrera, who changed that, moving him back in
defense and it was still strange move, for young Facchetti was placed
as left full-back, a position not for tall players. But Herrera
obviously saw the attacking skills of the youngster and made the
right decision: catenaccio, also Herrera's invention, reduced the
number of strikers to two and they were most likely to operate in the
centre, not on the flanks. Hence, there was often vast empty zone on
the sides to be explored – the new role for a full-back, doubling
as a winger. Facchetti was, if not the first to do so, the most
effective and impressive. He surprised the opposition, adding more
strength to Inter's attack, and scored lots of goals.

A
typical and familiar picture of Facchetti from the 1960s – another
goal scored by the left full-back. But it was not only the novelty of
striking back liner – Facchetti was impeccable defender, one of the
very best in the world. A skilful player, who did not depend on rough
tackles and intimidation, but on elegant outplaying the opposition.
Italian defenders have a reputation for uncompromising, often brutal
treatment. In 18 years of competitive football Facchetti was sent off
only once – for sarcastically applauding the referee. No wonder he
was loved and respected everywhere.

But
the football changed in the early 1970s and the heroes suddenly were
different. Facchetti was one of the revolutionaries in the 1960s, but
still he was considered part of the dreadful defensive football
introduced by Herrera and picked up by whole Italian football. With
the introduction of total football, everything focused on those who
practiced it. The new modern defender was no more Facchetti, but
players who really just played like him – perhaps they went a step
ahead, no longer restricted to the wings, but still Vogts, Suurbier,
Krol, Breitner, and so on, did essentially what Facchetti did –
helping the strikers, then quickly returning back to do their
defensive job. A lot of running, excellent physical condition.
Perhaps the end of Facchetti was in 1972, when Inter lost the
European Champions Cup final to Ajax, the gods of total football:
this day was the death of catenaccio – not as practice, but as a
fashionable model. The final blow came in 1974, when Italy was
clearly and hopelessly old-fashioned, ridiculous, and quickly
eliminated. Facchetti, unfortunately, played in both 1972 and 1974...
thus, immediately associated with catenaccio and no longer mentioned
as a leading star. He was getting old, but it was not the age – it
was the Italian style of football, which relegated him back to the
gone 1960s, a historic fossil, mentioned in past tense. Perhaps this
was one of the reasons his retirement went practically unnoticed –
few thought he was still playing anyway. For most he was a 1960s
icon, long gone... but he finished his career as a winner! Ending
with a trophy and perhaps more importantly with a trophy he never won
before – this was the only Italian Cup won by Inter during
Facchetti's long career! Of course, he was never forgotten in Milano
– a legend of Inter, a shiny example of loyalty and class, he
continued to work for the club until his death from pancreatic cancer
in 2006. The club honoured him by retiring his playing number 3 and
the city named a square after him. One of the all-time greatest
players.

About Me

I am Vesselin Vesselinov, born in Bulgaria and living in Canada. Football is my hobby since childhood – not the most important part of my life, but lifelong addiction nevertheless. Playing, watching, talking and collecting football. Now I am sharing my addiction with you. Hope you enjoy it.